Jack Ciattarelli, who told the Associated Press that he expects to run for governor again in 2021, is following a familiar model of making back-to-back bids for statewide office. Ciattarelli sough the Republican nomination for governor in 2017. Tom Kean, Jim Florio, Christine Todd Whitman and Jim McGreevey all lost statewide races before finally winning a gubernatorial election. Kean lost the 1977 GOP primary and kept his eye on the

There was a time back about a generation ago when Paul DiGaetano was a bright, rising star in New Jersey Republican politics. He he was one of the most powerful politicians in the state. Some Republicans openly fawned over the idea of a young, blue-collar, Catholic, Italian-American Republican running for statewide office. He was likeable, popular, and incredibly ambitious. Jump ahead thirty years, and sadly for him, the only thing

Joe Kyrillos will begin the next chapter of his life tomorrow after thirty years in the New Jersey Legislature -- and as one of the top vote-getters in Monmouth County history. In early 1987, I was serving as Executive Director of the Assembly Republican Majority campaign committee. The GOP was looking for a candidate to hold a 13th district Assembly seat going into Gov. Tom Kean’s second mid-term election. Roger